Many mountain regions in the Alps are affected by out-migration. However, climate change is also causing some people to migrate — at least temporarily — from the city to the mountains, as an Italian research project shows. We interviewed Andrea Membretti from the University of Turin, who coordinated the project called MICLIMI.

Prolonged heatwaves, air pollution and new, climate-related diseases: Increasingly, people’s own health is at stake, as the climate is changing dramatically for example in the northern Italian padan plane, also known as Po valley around Turin, Milan and Verona. But to which extent is climate change really increasing the likelihood of people moving from urban regions to mountain regions? This is what the research project MiCliMi tried to find out. It was launched by the italian branch of the European Climate Pact Ambassadors and completed in 2023. Andrea Membretti coordinated the project. He teaches sociology at the university of Turin. What role could climate change play in future for migration into alpine regions and why this is also a question of social justice – about this and more we talked to Andrea Membretti.

Further informations: https://www.cipra.org/en/news/the-urban-exodus-and-the-climate